Borrowing ideas: The changing form of metropolitan housing in Budapest

Gál, Csilla V

2012 (English)Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)

Abstract [en]

Capitals often serve as national testing grounds for urban planning, policy and design because of their role representing the state. As such, they not only accommodate local reforms and initiatives, but international concepts and practices as well. A strong reliance on imported ideas characterizes small or late-urbanizing nations, as their limited resources necessitate the adoption of tested examples over uncertain experimentation. In planning history, one can trace the adjustment of existing practices in the accommodation of novel ideas in the development of housing. Located at the crossroads of culture, technology, economy and policy, the design and construction of urban housing reflects the complex interplay of these competing forces.This paper focuses on the history of Budapest's metropolitan housing over the past two centuries. Through a close examination of the development of four characteristic housing types, the article sheds light on the local treatment of these foreign concepts by examining the social, cultural and political challenges that accompanied their introduction.The peculiar courtyard tenement of Budapest became the dominant model of urban housing over the course of the nineteenth century. Although its origin was never discerned, this form was both linked to the Viennese Hof and to the local building tradition. Across Europe, the reformed urban block emerged as an appropriate configuration for metropolitan dwelling at the beginning of the twentieth century. Despite their perceived superiority, only a handful of such residences were built prior to the 1930s due to legal, political and financial challenges. The third form of housing, the Zeilenbau, developed out of the German Siedlungen tradition during the interwar period. Even though the returning Bauhaus students promulgated this concept rather early, it did not gain acceptance until after the Second World War. Then, following the brief Social Realist intermezzo, the model was adjusted to meet the narrowly defined goals of the State. The fourth configuration emerged over the past few decades. Influenced by international trends emphasizing tower-living, this type of housing gained a distinctly local character resulting from height restrictions enforced by the city.The examined cases reveal that the metropolitan housing forms of Budapest are based on imported concepts. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates that the driving force behind the local adjustment of these ideas was not the often romanticized local tradition, but the municipal building code and the economic-political elite.